The Delhi High Court has been quite busy these days, imposing, and then “partially” lifting bans on Chinese smartphone makers. In a fresh incident, the high court has lifted the ban it had earlier imposed on OnePlus for marketing, selling and importing its devices in India.
The Chinese manufacturer will soon resume the import and sales of its phones in the country.
On 16th December, Delhi High Court Judge, Manmohan Singh restrained OnePlus from importing, marketing and selling its devcies in India, on the plea of Micromax, which alleged that OnePlus is infringing on its exclusive deal with Cyanogen.
A bench, headed by Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and RK Gauba noted that it was not a case for grant of an ad-interim injunction as neither OnePlus nor Micromax compete or eat into the territory of each other. The bench also observed that it was not proper of a single judge to decide the application without giving the parties time to file their pleadings.
The court, in its judgement detailing why it quashed the injunction, stated,
An ad-interim injunction is normally issued when a very strong prima-facie case is made out by the plaintiff and the injury to the plaintiff is writ large if the defendant is not restrained from doing the activity which causes the injury to the plaintiff. In such a case the balance of convenience would obviously be in favour of the plaintiff. Since interim injunctions affect the right of a defendant, the principle of natural justice would warrant the defendant to be heard before an order adverse to the defendant’s right is passed
The court has now directed the case back to Judge Manmohan Singh, who will hear it with arguments from all parties – OnePlus, Micromax and Cyanogen on January 7, 2015.
